Local government wants to end homelessness by preventing it happening in the first place, and supports the Government’s ambition to halve rough sleeping.
Key messages
- Homelessness in England is increasing. It is a tragedy for all those it affects and is one of the most visible signs of the nation’s housing crisis. Local government wants to end homelessness by preventing it happening in the first place, and supports the Government’s ambition to halve rough sleeping.
- Councils are providing temporary housing for over 70,000 households, including over 120,000 children. The net cost that has tripled in the last three years. In this time, councils have been housing an extra secondary school’s worth of homeless children every month on average.
- Local government fully supports the ambition to deliver the Homelessness Reduction Act. The LGA worked with the Government and the Act’s sponsor to secure funding for councils’ new duties, and we want to make a success of the new legislation. Councils should be given enough time to prepare for the required changes to their services.
- We are concerned that the new burdens funding for councils is likely to fall short of the costs in delivering the duties in the Homelessness Reduction Act. The Government’s review of the funding provided before the third year of implementation should contain a commitment to address any shortfalls.
- We are pleased that the Government has responded to our calls to extend the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate cap in the private rented sector. The 3 per cent increase in the Targeted Affordability Fund (TAF) to help private tenants is good news, but we would like the Government to go further and lift the cap entirely in the private rented sector.
- To help end homelessness we are calling on the Government to make cheaper finance available for councils to acquire properties to house homeless households at scale. Councils also want to see temporary accommodation exempted from the overall benefit cap.
Read the full briefing
Estimates Day debate, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to homelessness, House of Commons, 27 February 2018